


A Walk Through Hell

by ablankshot



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Gen, I don't know how to tag this, everything's fine don't worry about it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-16 13:44:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21037190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ablankshot/pseuds/ablankshot
Summary: It’s been two months since the Promare almost destroyed the world, and Galo Thymos hasn’t been the same.This fic contains spoilers for the film.





	A Walk Through Hell

**Author's Note:**

> Hey you ever stop writing for 4 years, move across the country, change careers four times, then get slapped in the face with a niche genre mecha film and remember how to write? yeah me neither. hi.

The sunlight catches on Remi’s glasses as he looks out the garage door to the street. 

“He still isn’t back?”

“No, not yet.” 

“He’s been working with them hard, huh?”

Aina takes a moment to remember specifically which ‘them’ Remi means. There’s been so much happening and so many different groups to coordinate with since the ship crash. She remembers quickly enough. Galo’s been working hard with the Burnish from the crash the last couple of weeks, it’s been hard to see the guy outside of work. 

“How long do you think it’ll take to clean everything up?” Varys asks. Lucia’s at her computer and the distinct change of speed in her typing is enough to know she’s calculating. 

She doesn’t bother to look up, “Given the size and structure of the ship and where it landed, it could take years. Maybe a six months if there are full crews working round the clock.” 

Aina sighs, chin on her hand, and looking thoughtful. “So probably longer.”

There’s not enough manpower to do this. They all know it. While Kray’s chosen ones were fine in the ship, everyone on the ground had suffered damage. There was only so much they could do. The Foundation wasn’t being disbanded fully, not completely, but the majority of projects were either on hold or abandoned as they were being investigated. Kray was imprisoned for what the world nations considered war crimes. Turns out harboring only a few thousand people and abandoning the planet to be destroyed and mass murdering thousands of innocent people was a bad look. Go figure. 

“Heris has been helping authorities and the science teams move forward with projects and use as much as they can towards relief efforts,” Aina offers. While her sister made some bad choices, she came around in the end and did the right thing. 

Lucia’s fingers stop for a moment. “But a lot of the technology they built for the new planet got destroyed in the fight. They’ll be lucky if they can salvage any of the blueprints and schematics from the wreckage.” 

The whole team sighs collectively. Aina glances down at her phone; no new messages still. “He’ll burn himself out if he keeps going like this…” 

“Is he still in that condition?” Remi doesn’t look up from some notes in his hands.

“What?”

“Y’know… Is he still... glowing?” Varys is always the most adept at translating. 

Aina takes a slow inhale and puts her phone away. “Yeah. Sis hasn’t been able to figure it out even after running some tests. Logically, there’s no reason for him to still be shielded like that.” 

“No… I guess there isn’t,” Lucia adds under her breath. But with how the quiet falls over the room, it’s impossible not to hear. 

Galo never talked about it. Only he, Kray, and a few of the Burnish who’d been conscious at the time knew what happened in the engine core. What Burning Rescue does know is that Galo went in to save Lio. Galo hasn’t been entirely the same since. He tries, he gets close, but sometimes the team can just… tell. 

It’s been two months since the Promare almost destroyed the world, and Galo Thymos hasn’t been the same. 

Sure, he wakes up early the same. Does his warmups and workouts to keep in shape. He rendezvous with Burning Rescue to work with them a few hours, then meets with Meis and Gueira to work with the Burnish for the afternoons. It required some doing and some convincing, but it took a week for the city to start utilizing the Burnish’s skills to help with the debris. They never really figured out how it works, but the Burnish can use their flames to create tangible objects, so they use them now to assist in small rescues when they find pockets underground to excavate and lend a hand in more delicate procedures.

No one comments on it. They can all see that faint tinge of green around him, protecting him, but no one says anything about it. What is there even to say? Galo doesn’t mention it, so no one brings it up. 

He’s still boisterous, he’s still cheerful and goes out of his way to help anyone. For anyone who didn’t know him well, there’d be no difference. It’s a surprise when he starts taking charge, to be sure. He knows he doesn’t understand everything, but he can direct people the best he can. Gueira and Meis help with the Burnish; if they listen to him, then the others follow suit. 

It’s bitter work, going through the debris and wreckage. Galo had been on Burning Rescue for months and had never had to deal with dead bodies (was that his skill and luck as a rescue member, or because Lio made sure Mad Burnish always had an escape for them? So many things he owes Lio for the more he looks back). But now? There are so many. And who knows how many they’ll never find; Burnish remains scattered with the ashes of dirt and broken cement. The smell is almost unbearable, but Galo can’t back down now. It’s what Lio would have wanted, he tells himself. He has to believe that. 

The sun is high overhead, and the heat is radiating off the pavement while they work. It’s one of those days Galo’s good to be out working without a shirt. Not that the rest of the team really want to encourage it, but they find themselves shirking their shirts (down to a tanktop for Aina) to help. Varys and Remi wipe the sweat off their brows and forehead. Lucia brings a cart of iced bottle water for everyone. Galo huffs out a breath and rests his chin on the shovel he shoved into the rubble. 

“...Why don’t we just go down there?” It’s the simplest statement Galo could make. Everyone looks at each other.

“Down where?”

“To the magma core. They’re still projecting we have three months. We could plan and build something to get us down there. We can’t think of a solution to save the earth without really knowing what we’re looking at, right?” 

Ignis is watching Galo closely through his glasses, but Remi and Lucia are looking at each other. Galo always has some wild ideas, some less likely to be based in reality than others. But sometimes, they’re so simple in themselves that it feels weird not to consider it. 

“Maybe,” Lucia mumbles. She sounds like she’s already running notes in her head about what equipment to build and what materials to use, what research from the Foresight Foundation to go through to find what she needs. 

But it’s possible. 

There’s a lot of discussion over the next few days. Precisely what to build, how to best make it fire and heat-proof. They get Meis and Gueira on board for that discussion. They agree the use of their fire could help with that too. Though the pair is admittedly a little apprehensive about going down there. 

But with a plan of action in progress that isn’t just _talking_ like all the national and federal groups keep wanting to do, Galo’s pumped. The green surrounding him is more vibrant, he’s grinning and encouraging everyone. They’re _doing_ something. They’re making progress. 

It’s three and a half weeks into development that someone finally asks the question. Meis and Varys are sitting with Galo looking at a topographical map of the earth when Meis stops.

“What are you even going to do when you get down there?”

Galo blinks once, “Uh.” 

Varys stares at him before resting his head in his hands. “You didn’t even think about it. Oh my god.”

“You mean we’ve been doing all this for almost a month and you don’t even have any idea of what you’ll do?!” Meis is in utter disbelief; his exposure to Galo has been short and always with the Burning Rescue so this really is his first look at the firefighter that stopped them on the rooftop. 

Remi leans against the back of the couch behind Varys. “Are you really that surprised? He’s always winged it.”

“That doesn’t make _this_ any better!” 

Galo leans his head back over the couch with a loud, exaggerated sigh. “It’ll be _fine_! I’m going, these two,” he gestures to Meis and Gueira, “are going help make sure the machine can keep me safe.. Lucia’s making the best equipment the world’s seen to keep me safe. We’ll be able to figure this out.” 

“Or die trying,” Gueira mutters to himself. 

“I’m not gonna die,” Galo reassures them. “I’ll be able to figure out what to do once I get there! I said it from the start.” 

Lucia pipes up from her computer across the room, “He did say that!” Then she’s back to work. 

Eventually, they all go back to work. There’s planning and testing to do. Still search parties and rescue teams to join up and coordinate with. The Parnassus really is enormous and the damage left behind is devastating in ways Galo couldn’t have comprehended without seeing it first hand. It motivates him more, to get down to the core even faster. 

One month later, they have a prototype. They test the size, they test the defense against Meis and Gueira’s hottest flames. They use some of the rubble to test the drill. There are still some changes that need to be made. Lucia gets back to work. But Galo is _sure_ now. He’s certain they can do this. They can save the earth like this. 

A month after that, Lucia stands to present her final product: a vehicle with room for four and their gear, a clear domed roof, a tank tread, and a mechanical drill on the front. She shows Galo how to operate it and drive it, how if he pulls this lever, there are sort-of-arms that will come out of the sides to help move any large debris that the drill can’t get. Galo only comments if there are only four directions why are there six pedals. While she isn’t sure what kind of effect the shield around Galo himself will have once he’s down there, she put in the best heat insulated materials she could find from the Foundation’s research labs and that weird facility underground they’d found the Deus ex Machina in. 

“This is gonna work!” Galo’s confident in Lucia’s abilities. He’s especially confident in his own. He has Lio’s flames protecting him after all. 

* * *

Galo takes a break only to do one thing: get more information. And there's only one person who has the information he needs. 

(And just when did he care about that? He never used to care much about having all the information. It wasn't until he properly met Lio Fotia, got to know what he was missing in that cave, that he learned to make decisions and opinions based on all sides of a story instead of just what he was fed.) 

Galo takes a slow inhale. The air in the high level federal prison feels stagnant. The guards leading him down the hallway don't have much to say. That's fine. In this one instance, Galo can't find anything to smalltalk about either. The door they bring him to is big, thick iron. It takes both guards inputting old fashioned metal keys into keyholds and turning at the same time for the door to start opening. The noise it makes as it slides open is grating. Galo doesn't like it. 

What he likes less is just inside. A big, empty white room. A clear, fireproof box courtesy of Foresight Foundation research industry with the man himself seated inside. Everything in this box made to be resistant to his flames. Galo can't imagine what that must be like. Knowing the things you made are being used to prevent you from using your own power. He can't see it, but just knows the entire wall and ceiling are equipped with emergency Burnish extinguishers. 

"Come to see how far I've fallen?" Kray's voice rings out in the silence. Galo feels his hair stand on end down his spine. This is the man that used saving him as a form of personal exposure. Who wanted him dead in the field. Who wanted to doom the earth and killed Lio. He isn't someone to fear anymore. 

Galo steels his nerves.

"No. I need information." 

Kray smirks, a half chuckle. "What information could I possibly have for you?"

"The best path to the magma core. You said you looked into it but couldn't do it. I need whatever information you have." 

Kray's eyes had resumed their sort of jovial closed expression, but they're still aimed at Galo through the clear partition. 

"Dr. Ardebit should have all the information I had." 

"That can't be everything. And a lot of it was lost with the Parnasses. We need whatever you know." 

Kray stares at him quietly. Considering. Weighing his options, likely. There's very little air circulation, likely to make sure there's no wind to pick up a spark of flame. 

"I kept a copy of all my research off site." 

Galo perks up at that. It seems obvious now that he mentions it, of course there'd be copies of important documents and schematics off the area of the Parnasses. Just in case. 

"Where?"

A smirk worms its way across Kray's face, giving way to more his true nature. It chills Galo to his bones. "The place I became known." 

Galo wonders, in that moment, what may have happened if he hadn't sworn to save Kray that day in the engine core. If he wasn't a rescuer at heart. He'd never given thought to it before, the idea so alien, so abhorrent. The idea crosses his mind long enough to be a solid thought before he dismisses it. He could never and would never allow anyone to die, even someone as rotten as Kray. No matter how vile that grin is.

He feels disjointed, disconnected as he turns to leave. He knows his feet are walking to the door. He knows they stop when Kray calls to him again. 

"Galo. Weren't you going to save the earth, save me, and save that Burnish? You failed."

Galo hesitates for a moment. Exhales. 

"I'm not dead yet." 

* * *

The day of the launch, all of Burning Rescue are there to see him off. Meis, Gueira, and some of the other Burnish who knew Lio well and what happened are there too. Galo can see it in their eyes: they want so badly to believe this will work. Which means it has to. He can’t let them down a second time. Not after the one and only time he’s ever failed. 

Galo takes a deep breath as he starts the drill. They had to do some work to get it angled downward so he could go the right direction. But once he’s making his way down into the top layer of dirt and earth, he knows it was worth everyone’s hard work. He isn’t even fifteen meters down before he knows it. At thirty meters, he puts in his ear plugs and pops some chewing gum to help with the pressure. Lucia tried to make the cabin as pressurized as she could, but there’s only so much one can do when one hasn’t been to the core of the planet.

“Okay… okay…” Galo’s looking at everything, he’s going over the checklist Lucia and Gueira gave him over what to be on the look out for. Every few hundred or so meters down, he finds a pocket of air and thanks Lucia for having some air filtration system and an air system. He can just feel through the insulation how stagnant each one of them feels. He hopes the system can hold out until he’s down there. This far down he has no communication with anyone on the surface. Maybe he should’ve asked Varys or Remi to come with him. 

Too late now. 

His head is heavy, like it’s trying to cave in on itself. As much as Lucia tried, the cabin is sweltering and he has to get rid of his jacket and shirt. He taps the LED screen on his dash to make _sure_ it’s telling him he’s at the correct depth; it is, and it still isn’t deep enough, he still isn’t at the magma core. The protective shield around him is starting to react though. That’s how he knows he’s getting closer. What had been a stationary, simple shield around him for the last four months has started to ignite, green bits of flame dancing out like small sun flares. 

_Unkg._

It’s almost like a whisper just at the edge of his ear. Galo can almost make out what it said, but it’s gone as he takes a breath. 

“What was that? Where’d you go?” he asks earnestly. There’s almost a desperation in his voice. The monitor says he’s been going for a day now. A day alone, talking to himself. Psyching himself up trying to figure out different angles he can tackle the problem of _saving the whole fucking earth_. The thought that he might be going delusional and hearing voices doesn’t even occur to him. He just knows he heard someone say something. 

It’s when the earth and rock around him feels like it’s closing in that things change. There’s such an intense heat, like nothing he’s dealt with or fought through before. The pressure is threatening and the domed cabin is threatening to crack. His lungs ache, they _burn_ and he’s fighting to get a full breath of air. He’s fairly certain the heat is causing the air around him to weigh about fifty pounds. 

_Unkg fhkx._

He heard it again. This time, clear as day right as the drill seems to catch something. Well, not necessarily catch something. It catches _nothing_. The drill suddenly sounds so much louder with no rock to crush. The treads start losing ground as the whole vehicle starts to tilt at an awkward angle. Galo rushes to turn the machine off, with the cabin poking halfway out of the earth into a large, open cavern. The heat is almost unbearable, even with Lio’s flame shield, and he can see it. For the first time, he can see the magma boiling under him. It’s like nothing he could have imagined seeing in person. Not even Kray’s simulation did any justice to the real thing. It is real, and terrifying, and Galo’s stomach drops in an instant because he realizes he has no idea how to go forward. If he tries to inch the machine out, he’ll likely fall into the magma. But then if he doesn’t, then he’s stuck. 

_Par tkxg'm rhn nlbgz fx?_

There’s the voice _again_. The weird thing is, this time? Galo understands. 

“I.. don’t think I know how to?” He’s looking around the cabin for the source. The green that’s surrounded him for months now is going wild, expanding like it’s trying to break free. He has no control over it, but the bigger it gets, the more it feels like he can breathe. 

_Nlx fx. Exm fx axei._

Galo hesitates. “All right. I trust you.” 

Lio trusted this voice. So it’s only right Galo trust it now too. He isn’t sure how he understands it, but he does. If it wants to help, then he’ll accept it. Galo watches with a keen eye as the fire stretches a tendril out, burning through the seal of the dome and he’s pretty sure he needs that to get back to the surface, but it’s too late the seal is being burned off and part of the dome is cracking so he can stand up on the seat and kick it out. It crashes down below into the magma, watches as it sinks in slowly to be devoured by the heat and molten earth. 

“So I need to _not_ fall into that. Good plan, Galo.” He can do this. 

There are some solid spaces of ground below him, but he’s got to angle himself right. It’ll take some doing, it’s terrifying and the heat around him is coming in flashes and--

There are stairs. 

Bright, green, semi-transparent stairs from where he’s standing down to the nearest large platform. When he follows it to the source, it’s… him. It’s extending out from himself, and Galo isn’t sure he knew how to do that. But apparently he did. Okay. Okay he can work with that. One deep, horribly hot breath and a step forward. 

It's terrifying, the way his foot sinks a little into the step but not through it. It's solid as far as he can tell. Okay. That's one step. He can't back down or be scared now. Everyone is counting on him to do this, especially after he made such a big show of it.

“Just one foot at a time. That’s all this takes,” he mutters to himself. The flames seem to react, dancing with pink on the edges, encouraging and egging him on. He can feel the flames’ excitement as he continues down fifteen, twenty, thirty steps. Is this what Lio had meant when he said the flames spoke to them? The way he’d described it sounded imperative, like a shout that couldn’t be ignored. This? This is a whisper of encouragement. A small cheer when he reaches the solid foothold and the flames all return to his sort-of shield. What’s probably the weirdest thing about it is that the flames know his name. He can’t explain it, he can’t comprehend it tangibly, but he _knows_ that the flames know his name and he can understand them clear as day. 

He rests his hands on his knees and tries to take deep breaths. The heat is unimaginable down here this close. But he’s finally here. He’s at the magma core. Galo gets to the edge of the platform and looks down; it’s another good forty or so meters down to where the magma is bubbling, angrily roiling. He couldn’t explain to anyone later how he knew it was angry. It was just… what he felt. He knew. 

In the face of an alien race that had the planet at its knees, Galo Thymos did the only thing he knew to do. He takes a deep breath, chest out, stamps one foot down heavily.

“HEEEEEY! Are you here, Promare?!” 

There’s no response. Just the sounds of the magma below him. 

“Please! We need your help. We-- The humans, up on the surface? We’re trying to live up there. We just need you to not destroy the earth.” 

Silence. Not even the faint hints of emotion from Lio’s flame around him beyond apprehension, like it’s waiting to see what the other Promare say too. Galo’s resolved not to go back until he has a way to fix this. So he does what he does best: be annoying until he wins. He pops himself right down, cross legged and waits. He does wish he’d gotten a couple of the provision snacks from the cabin before he came down, but granted he didn’t expect to be waiting out an alien race just to have a conversation. 

He doesn’t have a way to know how much time has passed. What feels like hours might just be minutes. He’s almost fallen asleep to the sounds of the magma below; after a while it became almost soothing. Lio’s flames around him helped with the heat, blanketing him in a gentle warmth against the intense sun below. They got excited suddenly. There was something changing and they felt it before Galo heard it. 

_Zteh Marfhl, vhkkxvm?_

Galo looks around for the voice but there really isn’t anyone there. Just him, Lio’s flames, and their new best friend the Magma Pit. 

“Y-yeah? That’s… me.” For the first time, Galo hears himself sounding unsure. But what else can he do when there’s no source to the Promare voice? 

_Rhn vtkkr pbma rhn max yetfxl hy Ebh Yhmbt._

Galo sits upright at that. “I guess so. They never really were mine.” The flames around him spark a bit, dance around him before settling again. Looks like it’s just as happy to see the Promare as Galo feels himself becoming. This is it. This is the start of a conversation that can save the world. His blood is heating up, chest threatening to burst with the energy he’s feeling now. He _has_ to stand up and start walking around. But it’s such a small area, he’s walking in a circle. 

“So-- So you can hear me, and understand me? Then you heard what I said earlier, about us all living up there?”

_Rxl, px axtkw rhn. Px tkxg'm lnkx patm rhn ptgm nl mh wh._

“I-i dunno. Not blow up the earth? That’s a start?”

_Zteh Marfhl. Px atox mh unkg. Px fnlm unkg tl ahm tl px vtg. Bm'l ahp px ebox. Px vtgghm wh tgrmabgz fhkx hk exll._

“No, I.” He hesitates then sighs looking down at his hands. “I get that. I think I’m starting to understand it now, with Lio’s flame. But if you burn too much, it’ll destroy everything, including the Burnish you’re synced with. There has to be something else.” 

There’s silence again. The air is heavy in a different way besides the heat now, both sides waiting for an answer. 

Galo smiles sadly. “Guess it was never going to be this simple, huh.” 

There’s a spark, a flicker in the edge of his vision. Lio’s flame is popping and reacting. It’s excited about something, syncing with its Promare this close in proximity. 

_Rhn lmbee vtkkr Ebh'l yetfx pbma rhn. Matm vtg axei. Ax vtg ngwxklmtgw nl fhkx vextker._

“Well. Sure, but he’s gone.” He’d never said it out loud. Never just… said the words _Lio’s gone_. Something feels like it gutted out his insides and left his chest a gaping hole. When did he come to care that much about Lio? Probably the moment he felt his body turning to ash in his own hands. 

_Tl ehgz tl rhn atox t litkd hy abl yetfx, px vtg nlx bm. _

“...All right.” Galo gulps the nervousness down, hoping to fill that void in his ribcage with _something_ besides an ache and emptiness. 

In that moment, the green that had been surrounding and shielding him for the last four months comes alive in a way he hadn’t seen it before. Its colors are vibrant and uncontrollable, pink and blue and green and Galo has never been good at sitting still around fire but he’s mesmerized by this. The flames jump from him, coalesce in the air between himself and the Promare in the magma before joining it. He holds his breath when there’s a small explosion, shielding his face from the overwhelming wave of heat that washes up and over him. There’s no shield now and he can feel what hair he had left on his skin start to singe off, the ends of his blue hair burning a bit. 

The air in Galo’s chest is gone, leaving in its place anticipation and excitement. This is what they needed. To just come down here and _talk_ with the Promare. Already something is changing. The color is different in the magma, it’s more pink and blue at the edges of it now. And a dark center taking form and maybe that’s bad. Maybe a dark shape getting slowly bigger and possibly closer to him is bad and maybe he should move. 

When the heat is at its worst and Galo is sure he’s going to die from exposure and heat exhaustion, he shields his face with his arms. _This is it_, he thinks. But there’s no searing pain. There’s no flame to skin contact. Just a mass of heat in front of him, so he _has_ to look. 

He blinks once. The sweat drips from his eyebrows to his eyelashes and he blinks twice. 

“Lio?” 

That mass in front of him had brought a body to him, pale and new. The green-blond hair waving with the heated temperature. Amber eyes slowly open, then blink rapidly at him.

“Galo?” 

Just like that, Lio’s feet hit the ground and then he’s stumbling. Galo reaches to catch him and hold him up. He can tell Lio’s weak and he’s struggling to stay up. But the grip on Galo’s arm is like a vice as they both look at the Promare Magma Combo. 

“I know what they need us to do.”

**Author's Note:**

> rowan: I’m glad we are both doing this mess  
rowan: i want both of us to post our monstrosities at the same time
> 
> The Promare text is actual dialog.
> 
> Rowan blamed me for hers, so please direct all criticism and complaints to her thank you no I do not take criticism.


End file.
